


The Serialist Of My Pulse

by Writing_will_be_my_death



Series: The Sound Our Hearts Make [2]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Humanstuck, M/M, Misgendering, Trans Character, deadnaming, getting a crush, movies - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-01
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2019-04-16 20:01:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14172369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writing_will_be_my_death/pseuds/Writing_will_be_my_death
Summary: It’s Karkat’s birthday.Karkat hates his birthday.(Recommended that you read “This Involuntarily Musical Imagery” first, however it is not necessary)





	The Serialist Of My Pulse

**Author's Note:**

> Hmmmm 4000 words do you want it? Well you got it anyway.

Karkat’s birthday was fast approaching, and he was not excited for it.

His father already seemed to be planning something, and Karkat had already received the yearly “Just because you’re one year older doesn’t mean you’re any smarter” which like, rude much.

However, he certainly hoped Egbert had not told Strider when it was. Then again, John was always with his girlfriend Vriska and her friends, so unless he told him beforehand, it was very unlikely that Dave knew.

That was good.

He and Dave had been getting a little closer since John’s birthday party, but Dave was still an unemotional asshole. He still wasn’t playing anymore of his guitar, and Karkat had given up on any chance of him playing again.

~

Time flew by, and before he knew it, it was his birthday. And from the looks of things, Dave had no idea.

Karkat was glad that his brother and father had decided to wait until after school to do anything, and John was still with Vriska and her friends. 

Terezi did slip him a crudely drawn picture in his locker, but that was it. A drawing from a blind girl, who was also his ex girlfriend. How endearing. 

The flirting between Dave and Terezi wasn’t really there anymore, either. And even when it was, it seemed more like a joke than actual flirting.

When Karkat did get home, his father and brother only had one gift for him, which was surprising, but also a relief. Finally, a birthday without a mountain of gifts.

It was a brand new record player, and this one had a headphone jack. Karkat was ecstatic, finally he could listen to his movie soundtracks without disturbing everyone.

Some of his internet friends wished him happy birthday too, Kanaya, Sollux, Nepeta and Equius, and Feferi.

He actually got into quite an interesting discussion with Sollux.

twinsArmageddon [ TA ] began pestering carcinoGeneticist [ CG ]

TA: happy biirthday, kk.  
TA: diid your famiily get you the whole fuckiing planet agaiin?  
CG: THANKFULLY NOT.  
CG: IT WAS JUST A RECORD PLAYER, AND FUCKING GREAT ONE AT THAT.  
CG: FINALLY THOSE ASSHOLES GOT ME SOMETHING DECENT.  
TA: diid that john kiid prank you agaiin?  
CG: NO, HE’S TOO BUSY WITH HIS NEW GIRLFRIEND LUCKILY.  
CG: HE DIDN’T EVEN TELL STRIDER IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY.  
TA: waiit.  
TA: 2triider?  
TA: liike dave 2triider?  
CG: WITH THE ASSHOLE SHADES?  
CG: YES.  
CG: DO YOU KNOW HIM?  
TA: he u2ed two go two my 2chool.  
TA: but he kept comiing wiith bru2e2 and 2hiit 2o they made hiim move iin wiith hiis brother or 2omethiing.  
TA: at lea2t that’2 what they told u2.  
TA: the teacher2 al2o kept calliing hiim dove for 2ome rea2on.  
CG: HUH.  
CG: I SHOULD GO, OTHERS ARE BOTHERING ME AND I NEED THEM TO STOP.  
TA: haha.  
TA: 2uck2 two bee you.

twinsArmageddon [ TA ] ceased pestering carcinoGeneticist [ CG ] 

That was certainly an interesting piece of information, and it stayed on his mind for the rest of the day. As a matter of fact, after talking to all his friends who had contacted him, Karkat decided to go for a walk.

~

It couldn’t possibly be what Karkat thought it was, what it seemed to be. Maybe the teachers were just mispronouncing his name? It was possible, but unlikely.

And the bruises. Did the people Dave used to live with hurt him? Sure, he’s an asshole, but still. That seems excessive.

“Hey, Kat,” A voice slurred. That almost sounded like…

“Gamzee?” Karkat asked as he turned to face the voice.

Gamzee waved.

“Gamzee what the fuck? I thought you were dead or some shit like that,” Karkat continued.

“Nah, had to see my motherfuckin favourite miracle kitten,” 

“Don’t call me kitten,” Karkat glared at him. 

Gamzee shrugged, “Why? s’what I called ya when we was little motherfuckin…” he pauses and looked at the sky, “tiny motherfuckers.”

“Well, we’re ‘big motherfuckers’ now, and I’d appreciate it if you called me Kar or Karkat.”

“But… you’re name’s Katlyn,” Gamzee replied.

“No! No it’s not! It hasn’t been that since grade four!” Karkat yelled.

“Are you bein all… a motherfuckin liar, kat?” Gamzee asked.

“No! I’m not!”

“I think you are, sister.”

“Fuck you!” Karkat said, beginning to tear up, “Go to hell and burn until you’re nothing but a fucking pile if ashes trying to get high on another pile of ashes and failing so miserably all the other piles of ashes are embarrassed that you’re there!” At that point, he was crying.

“I don’t like it when a motherfucker lies, Katlyn,” Gamzee growled as he approached Karkat.

Karkat felt his back bump against a wall. Shit, he was screwed. There was only him and Gamzee on this street, after all, and it was starting to get awfully late.

“No one likes it when a motherfucker lies, Katlyn,” Gamzee said, “no one!” And he punched Karkat in the face.

The back of Karkat’s head hit the wall, so he put his hands up to block his face.

“You fuckin hear me motherfucker?” Gamzee yelled, and kneed Karkat in the stomach.

Karkat doubled over, clutching his stomach. Gamzee then punched the side of his face, sending Karkat to the ground.

“No one is here for you, you lying motherfucker!”

“Fuck you,” Karkat rasps out, before coughing.

“Hey what the fuck,” Another voice said. This one sounded like Dave.

“Who the motherfuckin hell are you?” Gamzee asked.

“Strider. Dave Strider, and look man, I see you’re beating up my bro Karkat here, and that shit is just wrong,” Dave said, “so why don’t you back off, and no one else will need to get hurt,” That last part was said in a much more sinister tone.

Gamzee looked at Karkat, then back at Dave, before shaking his head, and walking away.

“Hey, you alright man?” Dave asked Karkat, as he offered his hand to help him up.

“Yeah,” Karkat lied, then coughed, “I’m fine.” Still, he took Dave’s hand to help get up.

“That was a rhetorical question,” Dave replied, “you sound like shit and you’re bleeding. C’mon, I know how to patch up anything.”

Karkat nodded, and attempted to start walking, but almost ended up falling over. Luckily, Dave caught him.

“Alright, guess I gotta help you walk too. Just, uh, put your arm around my shoulder, and I’ll put mine around your, uh, your side.”

Karkat did as he was told, too tired to argue.

~

Karkat almost didn’t notice when they arrived at Dave’s apartment, he had completely forgotten that that was where they were going.

“The fuck…” Karkat started, words slightly slurred, “this isn’t where I live.”

“Nope, it’s where I live,” Dave replied, helping Karkat through the main entrance and into the elevator, pressing the tenth floor button.

When the elevator stopped, Dave led karkat to room number 1024, took out a set of keys, and opened the door.

“Hey Dirk!” Dave called, “You there?”

“No need to yell, I’m just in the kitchen,” A much older looking man said, he must have been at least 30, “Why do you have a bleeding kid with you?” He didn’t sound concerned or disappointed, just confused.

“It’s the shouty guy I’ve told you about, Karkat,” Dave explained, “I saw him getting beat up while I was picking up some AJ, which I never actually got.”

“You can patch the guy up?”

“Definitely.”

“Alright, I’ll get you your AJ,” The man, Dirk, said, as he put some stuff back in the cupboards, and walked into the front entrance.

“You’ll be back in ten?” Dave asked.

“Yeah, probably,” Dirk replied, ruffling Dave’s hair before leaving the apartment.

“Alright man, let’s go fix you up,” Dave said as he led Karkat into the apartment, and attempted to fix his hair.

~

Dave was actually knew what he was doing. Apparently it’s good that Gamzee had hit Karkat on the cheek, since the cheek evolved to take a punch. His face was still bleeding from the hit, as was the side that hit the pavement. Fortunately, it didn’t need stitches, only bandages and cleaning. Unfortunately, Dave didn’t have any bandages that were anywhere near Karkat’s skin colour.

Another thing that happened, his phone had broken on impact. He’d have to ask for a new one now. At least this one was fairly old.

It was then that Karkat realized that his father had no idea where he was.

“Fuck,” Karkat said, sitting down on the floor of Dave’s bedroom.

“What?” Dave asked, sitting next to him.

“My dad has no idea where the fuck I am, and I have no way of calling him! I need to get home now, shit wait, do I live far from here? Fucking fuck, you wouldn’t know, you’ve never been to my home! And I’ve never been here before! This is just fan-fucking-”

“Dude, chill,” Dave interrupted, “just use my phone,” And handed Karkat a cellphone, already set to dial.

“Uh, thanks,” Karkat said, and took the phone and put in his Dad’s number.

“Hello, you have reached the Vantas household, how can I help you?” His dad answered.

“Dad, this is your fucking cellphone, why are you answering it like the homephone? I bet even Kankri doesn’t do that.”

“Oh, Karkat! Why are you calling me from an unknown number?” His dad sounded very suspicious.

Karkat sighed, “I ran into Gamzee during my walk. He… didn’t take our encounter too nicely, he said some stuff, hit me-”

“Said stuff? Hit you? Karkat did he-”

“Shut the fuck up and let me finish! So, Gamzee said some shit, he hit me, then this douchebag comes and scares Gamzee off. He’s a guy I talk to at school, Dave Strider. He offered to take me to his apartment since I was fucking useless in giving any sort of direction home, and I am currently using his phone since mine is fucking shattered.”

“Oh dear, are you alright now? We should really take you to the hospital, perhaps get Terezi’s mother on Gamzee’s case.”

“Yeah, I’m fucking fine. My head hurts a little, but I did get punched twice so, it’s whatever. Dave also seemed to know what he was doing? I don’t know, he cleaned the wounds and bandaged them.”

“Alright, uh, where does Dave live? I’m coming over.”

Dave took the phone from Karkat’s hand, said his address, then handed it back to karkat.

“Okay then, I’ll see you in a bit.” Karkat’s dad said, and then hung up.

“Well shit, I was just expecting you to stay the night or something, not meet your dad,” Dave said.

Karkat groaned, and laid down abruptly on Dave’s floor. “I hate birthdays,” He said.

“What do birthdays have to do with this?” Dave asked.

“Today is my birthday,” Karkat explained.

“What? Why didn’t you tell me?” Dave exclaimed, “Shit dude, I gotta get you something.”

That, was the most emotion Karkat had ever heard Dave use. Ever.

“Don’t, please, birthdays are overrated.”

“Nah, nope,” Dave said, took his phone from Karkat, and dialed a number. “Hey, Dirk?”

Pause.

“No, no he’s fine. Today’s his birthday though, I had no idea, so if you could get something-”

Karkat grabbed the phone, “I don’t want anything!”

Dave pulled the phone back, “No, definitely get something.”

Pause.

“Sweet, thanks, bye,” Dave said, and hung up.

“Fuck you, I don’t want anything,” Karkat argued.

“Well fuck you too, I thought we were friends,” Dave countered. He almost sounded hurt. Could Dave Strider be hurt?

“Friends? Why the fuck would you want to be friends with me?” Karkat asked, because honestly, he didn’t know how anyone could stand him.

Dave shrugged. “You don’t say shit to make people happy, you say what you think.”

“That just makes it seem like I’m an asshole.”

“Look, I’ve dealt with a lot of people saying shit to get a specific reaction out of me. Some want me to be happy, some want me to be hurt, some are trying to get me to spill my deepest darkest secrets. And honestly? I’m tired of people doing that, so I’m sorry if I want to be friends with the one person who isn’t like that.”

“Well fuck,” Karkat says, trying to fully comprehend everything Dave just said, “I guess we’re friends now.”

Dave was about to speak, when someone knocks on the door.

“That’s probably your dad,” Dave ended up saying, as he stood up, “c’mon.”

Karkat got up, and followed Dave to the front door. Dave then opened the front door, and sure enough, there stood Karkat’s dad.

“‘Sup Mr. Vantas,” Dave greeted. Karkat mentally face palmed.

“Karkat you look terrible!” Karkat’s dad said, as he pushed past Dave, and closed the door behind him, to greet his son.

“Jesus fuck dad, I’m fine.”

“Actually, you probably shouldn’t go to school tomorrow,” Dave said.

“The fuck? Why?” Karkat asked.

“You hit your head dude, might have a concussion,” Dave explained, “I know what it looks like when someone has a concussion, at least I knew when I had one, so you can just stay here tomorrow with me.”

“First of all, you should go to school Dave,” Karkat’s father said, “second of all, how do you know all this?”

Dave doesn’t answer immediately.

“I uh,” He falters, “I live with my 34 year old brother for a reason,”

“And… where is your brother, at the moment?” Karkat’s father asked.

“Well you see, Mr. Vantas, when I ran into Karkat, I was supposed to be getting myself some AJ. My brother went out to get some when I came back, and while he was out I found out today is Karkat’s birthday, so he’s getting a present for him, too,” Dave explained.

“I don’t want anymore fucking presents!” Karkat yelled.

“Well, too bad. I have no idea what Dirk’s getting, but it’ll either be food, something practical, or a joke,” Dave said, “hopefully it’s not a joke.”

“This is fucking terrible,” Karkat says, as the door opens, and Dirk walks in, closing the door behind him.

“Karkat, catch,” Dirk says as he throws a keychain at Karkat.

Karkat manages it to catch it.

“What the fuck?” Karkat says, as he looks at the keychain. It’s got a little red crab charm on it.

“Well, everytime Dave talks about you, you sound like a pretty crabby dude,” Dirk explains.

“Yeah, he is pretty crabby,” Dave agrees.

“Fuck you! I am not!” Karkat protested

“Dude, you just proved it yourself,” Dave said.

“Ahem,” Karkat’s dad interrupted, “I still believe Karkat should go to the hospital.”

“Nah, kid’s probably fine,” Dirk replied, “he could stay here the night though, I’ve dealt with my fair share of concussions. He’ll be fine.”

“... Your fair share of concussions?” Karkat’s dad questions.

“Dad was an asshole who thought beatings would ‘man me up’,” Dirk explains, “didn’t do jack shit, other than make it harder for me to get with my current boyfriend.”

“Wait, you’re dating Jake?” Dave asks.

“Yeah, I told you.”

“No, when I asked you just smirked and dropped a carrot into the pot!” Dave paused, “Oh.”

Karkat’s dad was not impressed. “You’re sure you’ll know if he needs to go to the hospital?”

“Definitely. Pain where there’s no injury, or trouble with remembering and stuff,” Dirk assures.

“Karkat, do you want to stay?” His dad asks him.

He shrugs, “Sure, why the fuck not. Dave and I are friends.”

“Hell yeah,” Dave comments.

“Alright, I’ll head back and get you stuff you need to spend the night, and for tomorrow,” Karkat’s dad said.

~

After Karkat’s dad had left, Dave and Karkat went back into Dave’s room, and Karkat was able to get a proper look at Dave’s music stuff. It was quite impressive.

A keyboard synth and turntables sat close to each other, with only a laptop separating them. A microphone was plugged into the synth, and a record library was on the other side of the turntables. There seemed to be more records than Karkat had. 

There was, however no sign of Dave’s guitar. It made karkat feel a little guilty, had he really been that harsh on Dave’s music?

The two boys spoke for a while, teasing and whatnot, and eventually Karkat’s dad came back with stuff for Karkat to spend the night and next day.

Dirk made hotdogs for dinner, and Karkat discovered that dinner with the Striders was much different that dinner with his family. Namely, swearing was perfectly acceptable, and a lot of dick jokes were made. A lot.

After dinner, Dave and Karkat went back into Dave’s room.

“So, you should probably sleep on the bed, since you’re hurt,” Dave said.

“Where the fuck are you going to sleep then?” Karkat argued. Just because he liked this guy’s music didn’t mean he wanted to sleep with him.

“The floor, obviously.”

“With the rest of your garbage? Perfect, it’s exactly where you should be.”

“Wow, I saved your life, and this is how you repay me? Rude much,” Dave joked.

“Oh please, I could kick your ass if I wanted to,” Karkat replied.

“I’d like to see you try, I’ve been learning how to sword fight for as long as I can remember,” Dave taunted.

“Sure you have, and I know how to use a grenade launcher,” Karkat mocks.

“Nah I’m serious dude. I mean, Dirk made me throw away the sword when I moved in, but still.”

“You are so fucking weird.”

Karkat ended up getting changed in the bathroom, and when he went back into Dave’s room, Dave had changed while Karkat was gone.

A few hours later, they decided to go to sleep, or at least attempt to. 

~

Dave was certainly not ugly, Karkat knew this. He had an aesthetically pleasing body shape, anyone with half a brain could see that.

However, Karkat had never seen Dave without his shades.

Eyes closed, and moonlight spilling from the window and onto his hair, face, and eye lashes. His face was relaxed, and Karkat could just barely see freckles dusting his cheeks. It was, simply put, absolutely beautiful. Karkat wholeheartedly believed that Dave was absolutely beautiful.

His lips looked soft and delicate, like something you would want to protect and keep close. Karkat wondered what they would feel like against his own.

His heart fluttered in his chest. Did Karkat seriously just wonder what it would be like to kiss Dave Strider? Shit.

Dave had been so nice to Karkat today, and he’d never really been overly rude either. Karkat was just always angry. 

Shit.

Shit shit shit.

Karkat had a crush on Dave Strider. 

There goes any chance of sleeping, not that there was much anyway.

Well, Karkat at least had the perfect opportunity to stare at Dave’s face. It’s not like he had some dreamself-body watching everything that happened while he slept.

And so, Karkat watched Dave sleep. It sounded creepy, but it’s not like he had anything better to do. 

~

When Dave’s breathing quickened, Karkat tensed and looked away. 

But his breathing only got quicker. Eventually, he even started to whimper. Karkat looked back over, and saw Dave with a panicked look on his face. 

His head began to thrash from side to side, eventually even making his body move a bit.

“N-no,” Dave rasped, “no!”

He was having a nightmare.

Karkat tried to think of what to do, as he watched Dave hyperventilate, and thrash from side to side, while repeatedly saying “no”.

Should Karkat wake him up?

Probably.

“Dave,” Karkat whisper-yelled as he poked Dave’s shoulder.

Dave shot up into a standing position, breathing still heavy, and Karkat fell backward.

Dave was looking Karkat in the eyes, fear and aggression present on his face, and in his bright, bright red eyes. Karkat was both terrified of Dave, and in awe of the beauty of his eyes.

His breathing slowed, and he must have realized how terrifying he looked as fear dominated the expression on his face, and he ran out of the room.

Karkat let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

Should he see where Dave went? Probably not. Dave most likely wants some time to himself, having just been woken from a nightmare.

Karkat sat there on the bed, wondering what he would say when Dave came back. Should he ask about the nightmare?  
Pretend it never happened? Hug him? Karkat didn’t know.

Maybe…

Maybe he should just ask if he’s okay.

But 10 minutes passed, and Dave still wasn’t back. Karkat started to worry. Were they close enough friends for Karkat to go check on him? Well, Dave had thought they were friends before Karkat did.

Karkat decided to check on Dave. He got up, and quietly left the room, hoping not to wake Dirk. Heavy breathing could be heard from the bathroom, leading Karkat to believe that that was where Dave was. 

He knocked softly on the closed door, trying not to startle Dave.

“Dave? Are… are you ok?” Karkat asked.

“N-no, no, I’m not… I’m not ok, I’m not ok, I’m not… I’m not I-I’m not, I-I-I,” Dave tried to reply, seemingly holding back sobs, “shit, c-can you get my shades, please.”

“Uh, yeah, ok.”

Quickly, Karkat dashed back into Dave’s room to grab the shades. Karkat wondered the importance of the shades, Dirk always wore a pair as well, albeit a shitty anime pair. Was it a Strider thing? Or… did it have to do with their dad? Did they even have the same dad?

He knocked on the bathroom door again, shades in hand. The door opened ever so slightly, and Dave poked a hand out, clearly wanting his shades. Karkat placed the shades in Dave’s hand, and a moment later Dave came out of the bathroom wearing his shades.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Karkat asked.

Dave shook his head. “Let’s just, I dunno, watch a movie or something.”

“Sure,” Karkat replied.

The two boys went back to Dave’s room, and Karkat sat on Dave’s bed. Dave took his laptop from its usual spot, sat down next to Karkat, and put the laptop on their legs. Their sides were touching, and Karkat was most certainly not internally freaking out over this, nor was he blushing at all. 

Dave looked through his digital movie library, and picked some shitty action movie that Karkat really had trouble following. Luckily, he let Karkat pick the next movie, yet playfully shoved him when he picked “Good Luck Chuck”. Dave picked the third movie, and Karkat had no idea if there was ever a fourth, as he had passed out on Dave’s shoulder halfway through the third movie.

He dreamt of Dave making music for him, and looking into Dave’s beautiful red eyes. He dreamt of going on sappy romantic dates with Dave, the likes of which Dave probably wouldn’t even do ironically.

~

Karkat was woken up by Dave the next morning, and Dave joked about “sleeping together” and that Karkat shouldn’t do that on the first date. Gotta probably seduce a lady first. 

Breakfast was not too unlike dinner, with dick jokes made every five seconds. It didn’t help that Dirk made pancakes in the shape of dicks, or at least tried to.

A little after breakfast, Dave changed the bandages on Karkat’s face, telling him the wounds were healing nicely. When Dave was done, Dirk said he had to leave for work.

They ended up watching movies for the rest of the day, occasionally making comments about continuity errors, or shitty acting skills, or dumb things the characters did. They only stopped to have grilled cheese for lunch.

Karkat made a mental note to have Dave make grilled cheese as often as possible.

~

Dirk came home an hour before Karkat’s dad came to pick him up. Dirk told Karkat’s dad, in a surprising amount of detail, things to look out for incase if Karkat did have a concussion. Dave had added on that Karkat hadn’t shown any signs that day, and that the bandages could probably be taken off the next day.

When Karkat got home, his brother lectured him on not going out late at night alone, and then lectured him on language when Karkat told him to shut the fuck up.

When Karkat tried to sleep that night, he remembered how easy it was to fall asleep next to Dave, and wondered what the fuck he was going to do about this crush. After all, summer was in less than a month, and Dave was currently Karkat’s only friend.

**Author's Note:**

> The next one will be Dave getting his crush on Karkat, and then this series will finally be in a proper chronological order. 
> 
> Leave comment! They motivate me to write more!


End file.
